The Ardagh Glass manufacturing plant in Madera is one of nearly a dozen in the Pacific Southwest to become Energy Star-certified.

The certification recognizes superior energy performance in 2017.

“Earning ENERGY STAR certification is a real mark of excellence, highlighting companies that are leaders in cutting energy costs and reducing waste,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation Bill Wehrum. “This program is in direct line with the administration’s priorities to support American manufacturing — greater efficiency fosters industrial development, greater competitiveness, a strong economy, and a healthy environment.”

Ardagh is a wine-bottle manufacturer that originally opened in 1970, operating as Madera Glass. It was formerly known as Saint-Goblin Containers before it was purchased by the Ardagh Group in 2014.

The plant has about 350 employees that produce about one million glass bottles each day, according to an Energy Star information page.

Across the country, a total of 93 manufacturing plants earned the certification in 2017. Together, these plants reduced their energy bills by almost $340 million, saved over 60 trillion British thermal units (TBtu) of energy, and achieved broad emissions reductions, including 4 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The energy savings is enough to meet the annual energy needs of almost 360,000 American households.

The Energy Star industrial program provides industry-specific energy benchmarking tools and other resources for 17 different types of manufacturing plants. These resources allow an industrial plant to compare its energy performance to others in the same industry and therefore establish meaningful energy performance goals. Plants from the automotive, baking, cement, corn refining, food processing, glass manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and petroleum refining sectors are among those that qualified in 2017.